English Language and Literature Commons^™

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Aptis As A Proficiency Test In The Recruitment Process Of University Lecturers By Afghan Ministry Of Higher Education: A Case Study, Omid Wali, Prof. Mohammad Rizwan Khan

Journal of Research Initiatives

English language proficiency has been considered as an important prerequisite for hiring new faculty members for various disciplines by the Afghan Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE). For this, the Departments of English across the major universities of Afghanistan such as Kabul, Nangarhar, Shaheed Prof. Rabbani Education; Heart and Balkh Universities have the responsibility to conduct English language proficiency test, which is always a subject of a critical discourse. This study compares both the proficiency test developed by the Department of English at Nangarhar University and the Aptis, which is developed by the British Council to test the proficiency level of …

Factors That Impact Efl Acquisition In Cape Verde, William Patrick Rezende Moreno

Master’s Theses and Projects

The purpose of this study was to explore the factors that impact English as a foreign language acquisition in Cape Verde. While in Cape Verde students are taught English as a foreign language (EFL from now on) for many years, upon graduation many of them are unable to have basic conversations in English. As a result, many students in Cape Verde lose the opportunity to get a better job inside and outside Cape Verde or potential scholarships to study in an English-speaking country. This study intended to explore the students’ and teachers’ attitudes towards EFL in Cape Verde. The main …

How The Bbc Served West Indian Literature, Glyne Griffith

Campus Conversations in Standish

Dr. Griffith joins the University Libraries for a presentation on the connection between BBC radio broadcasts to the Caribbean during the 1940s and '50s and the ways in which these broadcasts influenced the development of literature in the English speaking Caribbean.

A ;-) At The Past And Future Of English, Tiffany Li

Faculty Scholarship

It is always with a certain amount of wry, knowing amusement that we turn to the thoughts of people from the past remarking on the future (that is, our present). It is similar to how slightly older children view slightly younger children. They were so innocent then, those thinkers of the past! Look at what they thought computers could do, what language could be! How adorably naïve! Not like us, we who have put away our childish things.

Of course, the science fiction of our present may someday seem as pathetically misconceived as that of the past. So, too, will …

Swarbrick Works, Studies Environmental Humanities, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

“I had the experience of finding a particular professor who really got me to think long and hard about texts like Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. Those were the experiences that really ignited something for me, and there was no going back. I became really obsessed with literature as a whole. It was much later that I came around to being a specialist in early modern literature.”

That’s the way Dr. Steven Swarbrick explains how he became interested in literature. A native of San Jose, California, he got his bachelor’s from San Francisco State University and his doctorate from Brown University, both …

An Analysis On English Comprehension, Samuel Black, Jerry Rylance, Matthew Sielaff, Aaron Gorman

Math 365 Class Projects

Books and Buddies is a program run by Spread the Word Nevada (StWN) designed to help students who struggle with reading. As part of the program, students are given pre and post tests which measure comprehension, accuracy, and words correct per minute (WCPM).

A data set was provided that included students' scores on the pre and post test, as well as some general demographic information. A Python program was created to perform linear regressions on subsets of the data, measured on the three attributes listed above. The data was also divided into various categories for the sake of the regressions. …

Ways Of Thanking In American-English, Chinese-Mandarin, South Korean, And Thai : An Intercultural And Cross-Linguistic Approach, Pilaiporn Phetcherdchin

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Language can define people by the way they use it. This thesis investigates how four different languages – American-English, Chinese-Mandarin, South Korean, and Thai – use thanking expressions to one another. The content of this thesis is mainly collected from survey data and movie scripts. This study identifies how American-English, Chinese-Mandarin, South Korean, and Thai use formal and informal thanking expressions in various situations, e.g. people in different social status, and polite endings in thanking expressions. The author also focuses on cultural similarities and differences among the four languages in order to express thank to one another, e.g. Western and …

Kolb Studies, Teaches Shakespeare And His Times, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

Laura Kolb was not sure what she wanted to major in when she went to college at Columbia University, but at some point she decided in favor of English. This was not surprising, given her upbringing. “Ever since I was really small my parents read to me, and I loved to read,” she says.

A native of South Bend, Indiana, she grew up in Floyd, Virginia, went on to do her masters in Humanities and her doctorate in English at the University of Chicago, and today she is an assistant professor in the Department of English in the Weissman School …

The Importance Of Using Information Communication Technology For Learning And Teaching The English Language In Kurdistan Of Iraq, Nabaz Noori Kareem

English (TESOL) Master Theses

Kurdistan as a region in north of Iraq has undergone significant changes regarding its educational system, and using ICTs (information communication technologies) for teaching and learning English has been given a great role in the system. There are many researchers who wrote about the benefits and the challenges of using ICTs. As the term ICT includes many kinds of devices and applications, students and teachers in Kurdistan are using various types of ICTs inside or outside of the schools. Students and teachers use ICTs for teaching and learning the skills of the English language such as reading, writing, speaking, and …

Hentzi Looks At Literature And Its Circumstances., Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

English is a well-known subject, but what most

people don’t know is that English scholars do a lot

of different things. One of these scholars is Dr. Gary

Hentzi, whose interest in culture dates from a very

early age. “I guess I always knew that I was interested

in the arts and culture. I started out more interested in

music than anything else, but it quickly branched out

into an interest in literature,” he says.

As a young professor, he specialized in one of the

founders of the novel as a literary genre in the early

18th century: Daniel Defoe. …

Mcglynn Studies, Teaches Different Forms Of The English Language., Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

Although English is spoken around the world and is considered the main means of communication in commerce, science, and many other fields, the language has humble origins and a complicated story.

With roots in the southern part of England, drawing from French, German, and Scandinavian languages, English began to spread around the world as the British began colonizing. First it was Wales, then Scotland, Ireland, Australia, the United States, South Africa, India, and elsewhere around the globe.

Technology Usage Versus Technology Integration In Esl Classrooms: Drivers And Barriers, Ayman Serag

Capstone and Graduation Projects

Technology integration is a significant aspect of teaching and learning in the 21st century. This study examines faculty technology integration in the Department of English Language Instruction (ELI) at the American University in Cairo (AUC). It also explores the factors that facilitate or inhibit their computer usage, and also their perceptions about the professional development opportunities in technology that are available to them. Using a case-study design, the researcher used semi-structured interviews conducted with 19 ELI instructors to understand the phenomenon at hand. Eight of the 19 instructors also served dual administrative roles as department chair, committee and program coordinators. …

Foundational Practices Of Online Writing Instruction, Beth L. Hewitt (Editor), Kevin Eric Depew (Editor)

English Faculty Bookshelf

This is an Open Textbook available through the Open Textbook Library: https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/foundational-practices-of-online-writing-instruction. Reviews are available there.

Foundational Practices in Online Writing Instruction (OWI) addresses the questions and decisions that administrators and instructors most need to consider when developing online writing programs and courses. Written by experts in the field (members of the Conference on College Composition and Communication Committee for Effective Practices in OWI and other experts and stakeholders).... The editors believe that the field of writing studies is on a trajectory in which most courses will be mediated online to various degrees; therefore the principles detailed in this …

Professional Writing In The English Classroom: Designing A High School Or Middle School Course (Or Unit) In Professional Writing, Jonathan Bush, Leah A. Zuidema

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

The article offers information on the development of professional writing course in English middle school or high school classroom. It mentions that a good syllabus not only provide answers to basic questions, but also to questions that Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins have pertained to as the essential questions. It notes that students learn from writing activities and assessments including how to write in genres, evaluate the settings of professional tools, and manage their writing processes.

Professional Writing In The English Classroom: Professional Collaborative Writing: Teaching, Writing, And Learning -- Together, Jonathan Bush, Leah A. Zuidema

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

The article discusses the significance of writing professionally and collaboratively in English learning. It states that if people consider writing as just an individual act, they miss the big part of the value of professional writing. It says that oftentimes, professional writing explicitly represents an organization. It adds that collaborative writing involves the work of two or more members of a team.

To Txt, Or Not To Txt: Shkspr.Mobi And Academia, Bella Victoria Smith, Ed Nagelhout

McNair Poster Presentations

This essay combats elitist academic attitudes assuming that all online content is not reputable and that online com­munication, specifically txtspk, defiles English. By exploring the tenants of open source and open access, particularly the benefits of free redistribution, online editions of Shakespeare’s plays prove to promote intellectual excellence and trans­parency, benefitting academics most. Similarly, the belief that txtspk is destroying the English language is a myth because modernizing and shortening words exist in all languages, including the first printed editions of Shakespeare’s canon. Finally, this essay addresses future concerns for online editions such as the copyright barriers over intellectual and …

Professional Writing In The English Classroom: Let's Get Real: Using Usability To Connect Writers, Readers, And Texts, Jonathan Bush, Leah A. Zuidema

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

The article discusses the application of the concept of usability and user-centered design in the interaction between the writers and the readers in the English classroom. It is inferred that the interaction with readers is essential during the process of writing. The elements of effective lessons on usability and user-centered design are highlighted.

Investigating The Prevalence Of Use By Japanese Speakers Of An Acceptable Alternative Articulation Of The Phoneme /S/ To That Commonly Taught In Esl And Efl Classrooms, Greg Raver-Lampman

English Theses & Dissertations

The International Phonetic Association (IPA) as well as textbooks on phonology and teaching English as a second language (ESL) or foreign language (EFL) characterize the /s/ as an "alveolar fricative," meaning that the tongue approaches the alveolar ridge to produce the sound. Japanese phonology texts characterize the Japanese /s/ as alveolar as well. This tongue position has become integral to teaching the sound to English-speaking children who have speech impediments and for teaching the sibilants to speakers of other languages, including first-language speakers of Japanese who often struggle with the English /s/ despite the fact that the sound occurs in …

Teachers’ Professional Development Through Integrating Ict In English Language Education: A Case From Pakistan, Ayesha Bashiruddin

Book Chapters / Conference Papers

No abstract provided.

Professional Writing In The English Classroom: Professional Writing: What You Already Know, Jonathan Bush, Leah A. Zuidema

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

The article offers the authors' insights on professional writing that are taught in the English classroom, in which it is defined as writing within professional context with genres such as formal reports, directives, and proposals. They state that many teachers learn professional writing not only from advice, but also from experience and practice. They also mention that professional writing can be integrated in all fields of English language arts classrooms that can be taught to students.

Shriveled Veins Of My Stories, Jacob W. Franks

English

This is a manuscript of original poetry.

The Ecology Of Peer Tutoring: Perspectives Of Student Staff In One High School Writing Center, Cynthia Dean

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In high school writing centers that employ students as tutors, staff members can face challenges as they transition into a tutorial role. The purpose of this study was to document the challenges high school writing tutors may encounter as they transition from and between their roles as students and peer tutors. Two conceptual frames, performance theory and social ecology, guided this study. The former framed analysis of peer tutors’ performance in the writing center while social ecology disclosed how the acquisition of identity in one context affects a peer tutor’s activity in others. This qualitative study used a case study …

Gartner, Michael G., B. 1938 (Fa 367), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 367. Copies of Michael G. Gartner's newspaper column "Words, Words, Words" that appeared in the Louisville "Courier-Journal."

To ‘Noob Or Not To ‘Noob, That Is The Question, Joey Hall, Lee Tucciarone

The Corinthian

After watching a documentary entitled Black on White, by Robert MacNeil, we realized that many people still tend to make a distinction between white and black English. Since the documentary was rather dated, we decided to pursue this topic to further investigate whether or not the views expressed in the film are still the general consensus of the population. Some of the people we interviewed for this project did indeed express the belief that white and black English differ very much one from the other. In fact, as we began to investigate this topic, we realized that it is …

Language As Mediation In Tolkien's Mythology, Katherine Hyon

Graduate English Association New Voices Conference 2007

In his detailed accounts concerning Middle-earth and its inhabitants throughout various Ages of existence, Tolkien made his desire to write a mythology for England a reality. Although his work has delighted readers of all ages for decades, to dismiss Tolkien as a mere writer of children‟s fantasy or escapist science fiction would be to do him a great disservice. Tolkien was, above all, a philologist; his great love and obsession with language is obvious in The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and especially The Silmarillion. Tolkien was also a product of his time; he was a lover and a …

Multimodality And English Education In Ugandan Schools, Maureen Kendrick, Shelley Jones, Harriet Mutonyi, Bonny Norton

Institute for Educational Development, East Africa

In this article, we have made the case that multimodal pedagogies that include drawing, photography and drama have significant potential for enhancing teachers’ understanding of the way English is incorporated into students’ lives and how students can improve their understanding and use of the English language. In many ways, multimodal pedagogies represent a hybridization of indigenous and contemporary forms of communication. Drawings, as Vygotsky (1 12-1 13) notes, are children’s earliest representations of experience and stimulate their narrative impulse to create stories. By complementing such drawings with written narratives, teachers might encourage younger children to experiment not only with diverse …

Currents And Eddies In The Discourse Of Assessment: A Learning-Focused Interpretation, Pauline Rea-Dickins

Institute for Educational Development, East Africa

This article explores processes of classroom assessment, in particular ways in which learners using English as an additional language engage in formative assessment within a primary school setting. Transcript evidence of teacher and learner interactions during activities viewed by teachers as formative or summative assessment opportunities are presented as the basis for an analysis of teacher feedback, learner responses to this feedback, as well as learner-initiated talk. The analyses suggest that there are different teacher orientations within assessment and highlight the potential that assessment dialogues might offer for assessment as a resource for language learning, thus situating this work at …

Reading As A Criminal In Early Nineteenth-Century Fiction, Gary Dyer

English Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Semantic Changes In Present-Day English (Pde), Marva A. Banks

McCabe Thesis Collection

Before the printing press was invented, there was no recognized Standard English. There was no need for an English standard because most important public writing was in either French or Latin. "English was used primarily for oral and informal purposes and varied quite a bit from place to place" (Barry 2002). Mechanized printing, introduced into England in the late fifteenth century, made standardization a necessity. Later, in the eighteenth century, a small group of influential people decided that there needed to be a fixed standard for the English language. The group was appalled at the chaos in English and believed …

So What's Your Point? Relevancy In Conversation, Frank Bramlett

English Faculty Publications

Every rare once in a while, I find myself caught in a conversation where the person I'm talking to goes off on a tangent. And I don't mean a little aside. I mean a "What the hell are you talking about!?" tangent.

Luckily, for the other 99% of conversations, there are some general guidelines for engagement that help us avoid making mistakes like this one. H. Paul Grice, a language philosopher, is the scholar credited with first writing about these rules in a widespread way. Grice theorized that participants in conversation operate by an overarching approach that we now call …